Modern Language Association 9th edition (in-text citations)
Humanities, Literature
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MLA style is the citation style of the Modern Language Association. Its handbook is written for school and university courses in composition, literature, language arts, film, media studies and the digital humanities, and Citation Creation follows its 9th edition, published in 2021.
Every example is a real source, checked where it was published. Check the finer points against the guide your course or journal uses. Review formatting support and known limitations.
MLA Works Cited entries, part by part
Real sources, set as Citation Creation sets them in MLA 9th edition. Choose one to see what each part follows.
- Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick.
- only the first author reversed
- “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.”
- the article in quotes
- Nature,
- the journal in italics
- vol. 171, no. 4356, Apr. 1953, pp. 737-38,
- vol., no., date, then pp.
- https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0.
- the DOI, with https://doi.org/
- In brackets, with a page
- (Watson and Crick 737)
- In your sentence
- Watson and Crick then (737) after the quotation
- Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick.
- Only the first author is written surname first, so the list can be put in order by it. A second author follows a comma and “and”, in the usual order.
- “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.”
- An article is part of a larger work, so its title goes in quotation marks, with capitals on the main words and the full stop inside the closing mark.
- Nature,
- The journal is the container that holds the article. Its title is in italics, with a comma after it.
- vol. 171, no. 4356, Apr. 1953, pp. 737-38,
- Volume and issue make up the Number element, written vol. and no. Then comes the date, with a month of more than four letters shortened, and the pages after pp.
- https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0.
- For an article with a DOI, the DOI is the location. MLA writes it as a link that starts https://doi.org/, after the pages and a comma.
- Lee, Harper.
- surname, then given name
- To Kill a Mockingbird.
- a whole book in italics
- J. B. Lippincott,
- publisher, but no city
- 1960.
- the year ends it
- In brackets, with a page
- (Lee 23)
- In your sentence
- Lee then (23) after the quotation
- Lee, Harper.
- One author is written surname first, then a comma and the given name. The name ends with a full stop, as the title after it does.
- To Kill a Mockingbird.
- A book stands on its own, with no container, so its title is in italics, with capitals on the main words.
- J. B. Lippincott,
- The publisher comes next, followed by a comma. MLA usually leaves out the city the book was published in, and business words such as Company.
- 1960.
- The year is the last element this book has, so it ends the entry with a full stop. A whole book needs no page numbers.
- “Climate Change.”
- the title first, in quotes
- World Health Organization,
- the website in italics
- 12 Oct. 2023,
- day, month, year
- www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.
- no https:// in the address
- In brackets
- (“Climate Change”)
- In your sentence
- “Climate Change”
- “Climate Change.”
- The WHO wrote the page and runs the site, so MLA leaves it out as author and starts with the title. A page on a website goes in quotation marks.
- World Health Organization,
- The website is the page’s container, in italics with a comma after it. Its name is the organisation’s, so no publisher is added.
- 12 Oct. 2023,
- MLA writes the day first and shortens a month of more than four letters. With a date given, no access date is needed.
- www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health.
- The web address is the location. MLA usually leaves off http:// or https://, and the entry ends with a full stop.
MLA in-text citations
No author: a short title
When an entry starts with its title, so does the citation in your text. Shorten a long title to its first noun, with any describing words before it, and drop a leading A, An or The: MLA’s sample paper cites “Cost and Options” as (“Cost”). Type the short form in the Short title box, under More details, and your citation uses it.
(“Cost”)
Two works by one author
Add a short title after the surname and a comma, so the reader knows which work you mean. If your sentence names the author, the title and page are enough. We do not add the title, so type it in yourself.
(Montagu, Complete Letters xiv)
Authors who share a surname
When two authors in your list share a surname, add the first initial, or the whole first name if the initials match too. We never add these, so type them in yourself.
(H. Lee 23)
Several sources at once
Put the sources in one pair of brackets, divided by semicolons. Two places in one source take a comma between them, as in (Samuelson 43, 54; Miller 298).
(Watson and Crick 737; Lee 23)
No page numbers
A source with no page numbers, such as a web page, gets no number in the citation, and no “n. pag.”, unless it numbers its own paragraphs or sections: then give par. or sec. and the number. If your sentence already names the author or title, it needs no brackets at all.
(“Climate Change”)
A source quoted in another
When you quote someone from the work you read them in, cite the work you read, with qtd. in before it, and name the person quoted in your sentence. There is no box for these words, so add them yourself.
(qtd. in Damrosch 239)
Times in audio and video
For a film, video or recording, give the time of the part you cite, in hours, minutes and seconds, where a page would go, with no comma before it.
(Belle 01:23:54)
Before you hand it in
A page number in the text
When you quote or paraphrase, give the surname and the page, with no comma and no “p.”: (Watson and Crick 737). If your sentence already names the authors, put the page alone in brackets.
Three authors or more
The entry gives the first author, reversed, then a comma and “et al.”: Choi, Daejin, et al. In brackets write (Choi et al. 8), and in your own sentence “Daejin Choi and colleagues”.
One template for every source
Every entry takes its parts in one order: author, title of the source, title of the container it is in (a journal, a website, a book), contributor, version, number, publisher, publication date and location. Leave out any a source does not have.
DOIs and web addresses
Give a DOI in place of a web address when the source has one, written as a link: https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0. Any other address can leave off its http:// or https://.
An organisation as author
When an organisation other than a government body wrote and published a work, start the entry with its title and name the organisation once, as the publisher. On a web page whose website carries the organisation’s name, the website is enough.
The Works Cited page
Start the list on a new page headed Works Cited, centred. Put the entries in alphabetical order, usually by surname, double-spaced, with each line after the first indented half an inch.
The MLA core elements, filled in
MLA builds every Works Cited entry from nine core elements, always in the same order. Each element ends with the mark shown, a full stop or a comma, and whichever element comes last in an entry ends it with a full stop.
Here are the three sources above, element by element. A source leaves out any element it does not have.
| Core element | Journal article | Book | Web page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author. | Watson, James D., and Francis H. C. Crick. | Lee, Harper. | Left out, as the WHO also runs the site |
| Title of source. | “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” | To Kill a Mockingbird. | “Climate Change.” |
| Title of container, | Nature, | None: a book stands alone | World Health Organization, |
| Contributor, | None | None | None |
| Version, | None | None | None |
| Number, | vol. 171, no. 4356, | None | None |
| Publisher, | None: not given for a journal | J. B. Lippincott, | Left out, as it is the site’s name |
| Publication date, | Apr. 1953, | 1960. | 12 Oct. 2023, |
| Location. | pp. 737-38, https://doi.org/10.1038/171737a0. | None for a whole book | www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health. |
A source found inside a larger one gets a second container, with its own elements after the first. MLA’s example of a journal article read in a database ends with the database and its address: JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41403188.
MLA also allows supplemental elements outside the template, such as the day you read a web page that has no date of its own, at the end: Accessed 3 Dec. 2021. We add that day only when the page has no date.
If your handout teaches an older edition
The 8th edition, in 2016, dropped the city and the medium from a book, and the 9th kept its template. Here is the same book in each, as Citation Creation sets it.
- MLA 9th edition
-
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott, 1960.
- MLA 8th edition
-
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott, 1960.
- MLA 7th edition
-
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1960. Print.
The 7th edition also cut a publisher named after a person to the surname, so the publisher here should read Lippincott.
The 9th edition, and what comes next
The 9th edition keeps the template of core elements the 8th introduced, so citations changed little. It added chapters on notes, inclusive language and setting out a research paper, with title pages for group projects, and a section on annotated bibliographies.
In June 2026 the MLA said future editions will no longer use three hyphens for an author repeated from the entry above, and will ask for the name in full. Until then, the MLA says you may write the name in full each time, if your teacher does not object. Citation Creation writes the name in full already.
How Citation Creation handles MLA
- A DOI keeps its https://doi.org/, and any other web address is printed without http:// or https://, as the MLA Handbook asks. In your project, the shortened address still opens the page.
- Copy narrative citation gives the names for your own sentence, Watson and Crick, and a page you add comes apart, as (737), to go after the quotation, as in the MLA’s sample papers.
- Type a web page’s site in Website Name and the page is cited as MLA cites one on a site: “Climate Change.” World Health Organization, 12 Oct. 2023. An organisation that wrote and published a source is named once, as the publisher or the website, when the names match. Leave the publisher empty when it repeats the website’s name: typed in both, it prints twice.
- Type a short title in the Short title box and a source with no author is cited by it in the text: (“Cost”) for “Cost and Options”.
- Cite several sources in one place on the Writing order tab, free with an account, and they share one pair of brackets, divided by semicolons: (Watson and Crick 737; Lee 23).
- A web page with no date ends with the day you looked at it, Accessed 15 Oct. 2026. One with a date leaves it out.
- Add these yourself: a first initial for authors who share a surname, a short title for two works by one author, qtd. in for a source quoted in another, and, for now, take out the comma we put before a time.
How to cite each source in MLA 9th edition
Quick Facts
- Full Name:
- Modern Language Association 9th edition (in-text citations)
- Citation Format:
- Author
- Style Class:
- In-Text Citations
- Fields:
- Humanities, Literature
- Documentation:
- View style guidelines
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